On Saturday, March 15, the 30th Kentucky State Powerlifting Meet was held at Central Hardin High School. There were thirty-two schools in attendance with a total of 385 lifters. Trigg County, who was the 2007 2A and overall grand champion, had forty lifters qualify for this year’s meet. This year the meet proved to be one of the strongest in recent years as many records were set in respective weight classes; however, smaller, 2A Trigg County proved, once again, that it can compete with and defeat the larger 3A, 4A, 5A, and 6A schools from across the state.

Several of the new records were set by Trigg lifters. In the 155 lb. weight class, Scotty Mayes, who was the 155 pound champion for the second year in a row, set a new deadlift record with a lift of 575 pounds. The previous record of 570 pounds had stood untouched for almost twenty years.

Another record now owned by Trigg County comes from the 195 lb. weight class, where Antonio Grubbs and Dalton Cissell (North Bullitt) battled for the championship. Dalton Cissel benched 365 pounds and deadlifted 580 pounds for a total of 945 pounds. Antonio Grubbs benched 300, and as a result was behind sixty-five pounds after benchpress. In order for Antonio to take first place in the 195 lb class, he had to successfully deadlift 650 pounds, which was a meet record. Antonio was successful, setting not only a state record for deadlift, but also a state record for combined benchpress and deadlift with a total of 950 pounds, five pounds more than Cissell. The previous deadlift record was 640 pounds, and the combined total record was 940 pounds. The 195 lb. weight class proved to be very strong as both Grubbs and Cissell’s totals were enough to win the 205, 220, and 235 pound weight classes as well.

Another record now owned by Trigg County comes from the 250 lb weight class, where Timmy McGee took second place. Timmy’s deadlift of 650 lbs. broke the record, which he previously set last year, by fifty pounds. Timmy’s combined benchpress and deadlift total was 965 pounds.

Trigg also proved to be very successful in the smaller weight classes by taking three spots in the 125 lb class alone. Jonta Barksdale (9th grade), Eric Keeler (11th grade), and Toddrick Wilson (9th grade) placed 4th, 5th, and 6th respectively, helping Trigg rack up nine points in the 125 lb. class. Barksdale had a combined weight of 560 lbs, with Keeler right behind him at 555 lbs. Freshman Toddrick Wilson rounded out the sixth spot with a total lift of 530 lbs.